iFanboy Video Podcast

iFanboy – Episode #218 – DC Comics Reboot

Show Notes

Reboot!

Call it what you will, but the books are being reset all across DC Comics, and in September there will be 52 new #1 issues. Is it a big deal? You bet it is. This week, we go through the all the books in the DC reboot, across the Superman, Batman, Dark, Edge, and more, picking out our favorites, the ones we're a little worried about, and discussing the significance of the changes in store. One thing's for sure: this is a big move.

Not only are all the titles getting a fresh start, but the comics will be sold digitally on the same day they appear in comic shops. We'll talk about the impact that will have on comic shops, if any.

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Good show guys. Other than the books that had previously been working successfully the only ones that are piquing my interest are JLA, Stormwatch and Morrison’s Action Comics. I just don’t think that the line-up of titles and creators simply isn’t good enough to turn things around. With all of the drama surrounding the reboot I don’t see myself picking up more DC than I previously did.

Nice show. I didn’t realize there is a new Teen Titans promo image. The first one was disappointing.

Once the same-day digital releases begin, I plan to buy a lot more DC. As a trade-only guy, I currently spend about $20 a month via Amazon, nearly all of it on Marvel titles. Starting in September, I plan to spend at least that much on monthly digital releases from DC. Can’t wait!

This reboot has been the deciding factor in me a) ordering an iPad 2 and b) deciding to read comics weekly for the first time since about 1989. For some reason I’m more excited about Animal Man than anything else.

Couple of questions for the well-informed if I may? Are any other companies day and date as standard?And if not, how far behind do they tend to be? If day and date I would also read Buffy Season 9 and a fair but of Marvel stuff…but any more than a few days and you lose the “as it happens” feeling and so I may as well do my usual and wait for the trade.

Any companies resisting day and date…I literally have money in my pocket you don’t seem to want. Resisting day and date is not going to make me buy issues and I suspect there are a lot of people like me.

I am really iffy on this whole thing. Brian Azarello and Cliff Chiang should make me care about Wonder Woman, but it doesn’t. I will pick up Action Comics #1, but if Supes has that awful costume, I will drop it. I’m going to try a few Batbooks, even if Capullo’s art will turn me off.

I will definitely be buying the Swamp Thing, Animal Man, and Frankenstein books. those are what I am most excited about. I miiiiiight get JLI just for Booster Gold, and see how it pans out.

As for everything else? Eh…I’m a Marvel guy.

For those going digital, I am curious about paying day and date full cover for digital. What is your reasoning? Space? Convenience? Just curious. I love paper comics, and personally will continue to buy those, but man, since I have moved so many times over the past few years, I kind of see the ideal of digital. That said, rereading Thanos Quest and Infinity Gauntlet recently digitally on my giant TV was just meh though.

Woah woah woah woah, what? I didn’t realise it was full cover price! Hadn’t heard anything on pricing yet and haven’t watched the above video. If that’s true this move has just gone from utter genius to lunacy and I take back what I just said. I will not pay 3.99, or even 2.99 for single digital issues. For a while there I thought DC might have given the industry the adrenaline shot it needs so badly. Trades it still is then *sigh*.

Oh wow. You guys have got me very, very excited for SDCC this year. I’m not going since I live in Australia but I always listen to DC’s podcast recordings of their panels because no write up really compares to hearing it for yourself. But I still expect to see some awesome reports from you guys in July.

I’m very much looking forward to the reboot/relaunch. September can’t come soon enough.

@Conor Cheers, I think $2.99 is just about acceptable but I’ll be reading about half of those I planned to. $1.99 is CLEARLY the “magic price point”, everyone seems to know this apart from the people at DC who are paid stupid amounts of money to figure stuff like this out.

I wonder how they’ll convert the pricing into pounds though? $1 and £1 are not the same value, but it seems to be the lazy thing for businesses nowadays to just convert pricing on that basis.

$2.99 is around £1.85, so I guess I’ll pay up to £1.99, but if they seriously want £2.99 I may as well bend over and grit my teeth.

We’ve all got our opinions about how well or bad this re-boot will go, but let’s not forget the obvious thing here – DC (and comics as a whole) is now getting big buzz. The industry needs that buzz given the rut it’s in. DC’s digital initiative definitely looks like a game-changer, but it’s the books themselves that are going to determine if new readers will stay for the long run.

I think one great thing about being able to buy the comic’s digitally day and date, is that I can buy an iTunes gift card for 20% off, which translates to me saving that same amount on my comics, and if I want to wait a month to read it, it ends up being even more savings for me. I stopped going to my local shop, because it got too expensive, and I needed the money to support my family. I think this allows me to get back into the comics, and support the writers and artists, while still being able to survive financially.

i’m excited for some of the newer “odd books” like Justice League Dark, Creature Commandos and stuff like that.

I plan on going 100% digital for DC stuff. Reading stuff on my iPad is a really fun experience and i actually think its better than physical floppies. Plus being able to buy my comics from my desk at work and read them at lunch…thats so perfect! I don’t have the room for all these issues and as printed objects they are just too low quality for me to want to keep them. I’ll still pick up printed trades though for things i really like. I might even wait the month to get alot of these for cheaper…more stories..more fun!

The more I look at the list the more titles I realise I want to read – Stormwatch, Frankenstein, Action Comics, JLA, Animal Man, Justice League Dark, Demon Nights, Resurrection Man…all have a lot of potential.

I’m so glad to see that much of the iFanboy fanbase is in support of digital. Personally, I like having everything on my computer/tablet. I save room in my house, and can take everything I own on the go. I was already downloading copies of every book I bought in a store just for this convenience. The books would go directly into a box, and I would read my digital copy. So far, I’ve gone Comixology-only on all of my Image titles (they range anywhere from day/date to a few weeks after), and I don’t miss having the print copy at all. I can keep it for as long as Comixology is in business, and I don’t have to dig through a box to find it if I ever want to look at it again. I will be picking up Blue Beetle and possibly Batman this way as well. Marvel REALLY needs to get on board though. I don’t want to dislike them.

I live in Australia and pay more than double the cover price to get my comics on the same day that they come out in the US. I will be switching to digital and assuming the quality is good I don’t see myself buying another paper issue of a DC comic ever again.

@josh I had (still have) problems with this video running on this page too, sorry probably should have said earlier.

The audio is fine but the video freezes for 30 seconds or so, then you get a few frames where it works, then it freezes again, all the way through. Just assumed it was me at first and that may be the case but I haven’t had any issues elsewhere.

@boosebaster The video player is hosted by blip.tv. If I were you, I’d go over there, and see if their other videos work. See if our video works on their site. It sounds like the problem is on your end, and it could be one of myriad technical conflicts from computer speed to browser version to internet connection speed. Can you download the episodes, and watch them that way?

Good show. Nice to hear your full thoughts. As a DC fanboy, this has got me more than majorly excited. I too will be doing the whole 52 the first month.

And just thinking ahead, as you slipped in at the end of the show, it’s going to be interesting to see what the second wave is going to be. As of right now my current favorites Power Girl and Stephanie Brown are missing, but I have no doubt that they will be popping up in some form in the future. It’s just building up anticipation and making me more excited for the reboot. Cheers to DC for doing such a bold move.

@Josh The player on the page hasn’t been working for me and I’ve been using Opera. Tonight, I just downloaded the SD version and watched it on Quicktime.

The thing I can’t figure out about this new DC digital is how it’s going to work for people that don’t have and iPad or Playbook. Am I gonna be able to use this app on my laptop or desktop like iTune Store? I’m not really in a hurry to have portable everything, using my laptop for almost every kind of media has grown on me. It’s really as portable as I need to be. If the iPad is a requirement, I’m sticking with buying floppies. A ton of this stuff will prolly read better in trade anyway. Well I be able to use Paypal to pay for my comics? I don’t have a debit/credit card…

Everyone is super excited for grant Morrison on Action Comics, and rightfully so, as I think he’s going to kill it. but am i the only one just as excited for rags morales on the book with him? Loved his artwork in Identity Crisis, really looking forward to his work here. The pressure is really on for these two guys. This reboot has huge buzz, and this title probably has the most buzz of the buzz (if that makes sense….) September can’t come fast enough!

I must say that DC had done it right! This reboot has gotten me interested in reading all these Flashpoint books that if it weren’t for the relaunch news, I wouldn’t have given it a chance. The funny thing was when I created my pull-list for the summer, most of my titles were Marvel because of the Fear Itself hype. Surprisingly the Flashpoint tie-ins were so solid that I’ve replaced my Marvel pull-list with DC.

Is it weird that I’m catching up to my comic reading and watching this today and getting excited for new 52 two years late?
I’m reading through Comixology and Marvel Unlimited and listening/watching your shows with my readings.